was their activity, and so numerous the impediments
which the nature of the road presented to the equestrian mode of
travelling, that far from being retarded by the slowness of their pace,
his difficulty was rather in keeping up with his guides. He observed
that they occasionally watched him with a sharp eye, as if they were
jealous of some effort to escape; and once, as he lingered behind at
crossing a brook, one of the gillies began to blow the match of his
piece, giving him to understand that he would run some risk in case of
an attempt to part company. Dalgetty did not augur much good from the
close watch thus maintained upon his person; but there was no remedy,
for an attempt to escape from his attendants in an impervious and
unknown country, would have been little short of insanity. He therefore
plodded patiently on through a waste and savage wilderness, treading
paths which were only known to the shepherds and cattle-drivers, and
passing with much more of discomfort than satisfaction many of those
sublime combinations of mountainous scenery which now draw visitors from
every corner of England, to feast their eyes upon Highland grandeur, and
mortify their palates upon Highland fare.

At length they arrived on the southern verge of that noble lake upon
which Inverary is situated; and a bugle, which the Dunniewassel winded
till rock and greenwood rang, served as a signal to a well-manned
galley, which, starting from a creek where it lay concealed, received
the party on board, including Gustavus; which sagacious quadruped, an
experienced traveller both by water and land, walked in and out of the
boat with the discretion of a Christian.

Embarked on the bosom of Loch Fine, Captain Dalgetty might have admired
one of the grandest scenes which nature affords. He might have noticed
the rival rivers Aray and Shiray, which pay tribute to the lake, each
issuing from its own dark and wooded retreat. He might have marked, on
the soft and gentle slope that ascends from the shores, the noble old
Gothic castle, with its varied outline, embattled walls, towers, and
outer and inner courts, which, so far as the picturesque is concerned,
presented an aspect much more striking than the present massive and
uniform mansion. He might have admired those dark woods which for many
a mile surrounded this strong and princely dwelling, and his eye might
have dwelt on the picturesque peak of Duniquoich, starting abruptly from
the lake, and ra